Traffic approval delays, crew held in quarantine & blanket bans affecting air cargo: IATA CEO

March 25, 2020: Alexandre de Juniac, director general & CEO, International Air Transport Association (IATA), while releasing the updated analysis of global air transport on Tuesday, cited challenges in air cargo movements including the time wasted in waiting for approval of traffic rights, cargo crew caught up in quarantine measures and blanket bans on cargo flights.

He urged governments to exempt cargo crew from quarantine restrictions, expedite paperwork to mount special operations and do everything possible to reduce costs and charges.
To illustrate the challenges that airlines are facing he listed few examples:

• One airline ran a repatriation flight for its nationals to a country in Asia. On the return operation the airline wants to make a stop in a third country to pick-up relief supplies. But valuable time is being wasted waiting for approval of traffic rights.

• Cargo crew are being caught up in quarantine measures aimed at commercial passengers. In some cases, they are not being allowed to position on commercial flights. And there are destinations were normal accommodation for crew rest is unavailable and no alterative arrangements have been made.

• And our staff intervened in Somalia and Djibouti where cargo flights fell under the same temporary flight ban as passenger aircraft.

“The one part of the business that is operating is cargo. And it is doing everything it can to meet demand. And that is a big challenge because of the severe reduction in the cargo capacity that was carried on passenger flights. Airlines are reintroducing freighters and doing their best to even adapt passenger aircraft into their cargo operations. That’s because global supply chains are still running. And air cargo is essential to keeping it that way. Last week we highlighted the need for governments to ensure that air cargo can continue to play a critical role. I wish that I could say that all has been smooth. That is not the case,” he added.